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Wausau Ethics Board moves into closed session on pending complaint against mayor
Summary
The Wausau Ethics Board voted unanimously to enter closed session Sept. 12 to consider motions and procedural issues in a pending complaint against Mayor Doug (surname inconsistent in transcript). The board noted outstanding depositions, recent legal funding authorization for city officials and a prior adjournment deadline of Oct. 10.
The Wausau Ethics Board voted 4-0 on Sept. 12 to move into a closed session to discuss procedural and legal matters in a pending complaint against Mayor Doug (surname recorded in the transcript alternatively as Ginnie and Denny). The vote followed board discussion of pending pleadings, outstanding depositions and a recent authorization of legal funding for city officials.
The move to closed session came after the board’s chair said the first agenda item was “the status of proceedings in the matter of the pending complaint against mayor Doug” and recapped that at the Sept. 3 meeting the board learned the respondent had not yet been able to depose the city clerk and the city attorney. The chair noted the board had previously voted at the Sept. 3 meeting to adjourn the evidentiary hearing to a date no later than Oct. 10.
The chair reported that “the common counsel on Tuesday unanimously authorized funding for attorney Sam Hall to serve as legal counsel to represent the city, the city attorney, and the city clerk.” The chair also said that authorization could be vetoed by the mayor within five business days of the council vote and that a veto override, if pursued, could occur at the council’s next regular meeting, which the chair identified as Sept. 23.
The board listed several filings from the respondent that it intends to consider at the current meeting: a motion for reconsideration; a second motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, to adjourn; and an objection to conducting an evidentiary hearing in a piecemeal fashion. The chair framed the closed session as covering conferring with legal counsel under Wisconsin law about strategy related to those motions and objections.
Board members Dexter, Hosler, DeVos and Kurtz recorded “yes” on a roll-call vote to enter closed session. After the roll call the chair stated, “The motion carries, and we will now move to closed session.”
No substantive rulings on the respondent’s motions or on the requested depositions were made public before the board adjourned into closed session. The board’s prior direction to adjourn the hearing to a date no later than Oct. 10 remains on the record.
Items for any subsequent public minutes or actions will depend on the outcome of the closed-session deliberations and any further procedural steps the board or the city council takes, including the possible mayoral veto or council veto-override related to legal funding authorization.
